Neil Strauss

The headmaster and visionary behind Stylelife is internationally bestselling author Neil Strauss. He founded the Stylelife Academy — the world’s first online academy for attraction — in 2007 out of a desire to enable men all over the planet to change their lives the way he had done. Although The Los Angeles Times heralded him as a “hero to men seeking women” things weren’t always so great in his life.

As a music critic, bestselling author, and writer for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and other publications, Strauss seemed to live the life of a rock star. He partied with music legends, he appeared (clothed) in porn movies, and he interviewed the world’s biggest movie stars. In spite of this seemingly glamorous lifestyle, he lacked confidence with women. He grudgingly stretched occasional one-night stands into relationships that dragged for years because he wasn’t sure he’d ever get another hook-up.

That all changed when he entered the seduction community. When presented with an opportunity to write about a burgeoning online community of pickup artists, Strauss-the-journalist took a backseat to Strauss-the-obsessed-student-of-seduction. Traveling the world to learn from the greatest teachers and social artists, Strauss buried himself in erotic education. Singularly focused on learning to be more socially successful, Strauss transformed himself from what the community called an “average frustrated chump” into the best pickup artist in the world.

Strauss wrote about his quest for self-improvement in The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. The book quickly hit the bestseller lists and scored high rankings on Amazon. Appearances on television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The View followed. Men everywhere were fascinated with Strauss’s tale of transformation. His dedication, appetite for learning, and do-whatever-it-takes attitude were inspiring. Truth be told, The Game really should have had a Rocky-style training montage with musical accompaniment. The book also proved that the quest for social improvement is a worldwide phenomenon. To date, The Game has been translated into more than 20 languages and is an international bestseller.

After the success of the book, Strauss was besieged by desperate students who wanted to learn from the newest master. He taught workshops and eventually released The Annihilation Method, a DVD-based learning system that sold out in a matter of minutes. In July 2006, Strauss launched the Stylelife Challenge online. This monumental effort was a completely new strategy for teaching social skills. No entrance fees, no books to buy, no memberships to pay for. The Stylelife Challenge was a completely free system designed to help men get a date in 31 days. Every single day for an entire month, Strauss and his group of pickup artist coaches gave assignments and provided feedback to a community of 20,000 online users dedicated to getting a date. The amazing thing was that while there was plenty of success with dates, many of the students also got new jobs, raises, and improved other aspects of their lives.

The Stylelife Challenge was originally intended to be a parting gift to the community. Strauss had books to write, exotic places to visit, movie deals to oversee, television shows to launch, and of course, romantic dates to plan. But the sincere and heartfelt emotion from the men who changed their lives during the Challenge convinced Strauss he should continue mentoring dedicated students.

In November 2006, Strauss held a workshop in Los Angeles that attracted more than a hundred students from all over the world. Determined men came from places as far flung as England, Belgium, France, and Australia to learn from Strauss and the Stylelife team. The event was a rousing success, but it illustrated one major drawback to the workshop style of teaching.

During a workshop, surrounded by like-minded students and encouraged by skilled instructors, men experience an adrenaline rush of learning. They’re pumped up all day and can’t wait to hit the bars and coffee shops at night. But what happens after they go home? After they return to their cubicles, and their compact cars, and their cookie-cutter apartments, and manipulative bosses, and bills to pay, and classes to take, and all the other mundane chores of real life? All that amazing energy, excitement, and support fades away and they find themselves struggling to say hello to that lovely lady in the fiction section at Borders.

To combat this post-workshop letdown, Strauss conceived the Stylelife Academy. A revolutionary method of teaching social improvement, this system provides an online coach. Someone to help, to encourage, and to give a good kick in the ass when needed! Every single day, every step of the way. Always an innovator, Neil Strauss changed the game once again.

Meanwhile, his publications continued. In 2007, he published The Rules of the Game a two-volume box set containing “The Stylelife Challenge” and “The Style Diaries.” An expanded version was released in 2009 featuring, for the first time ever, “The Routines Collection.” In 2011, a collection of celebrity interactions entitled Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead: Journeys into Fame and Madness was released. The book included Strauss buying diapers with Snoop Dogg, picking up Britney Spears, chatting with Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and many other adventures.

As Style’s life has changed, so has Stylelife. Under his direction, Stylelife continued to transform lives of men around the globe. Conferences were held in Los Angeles, New York, and London. Boot camps operated by hand-picked Stylelife coaches achieved great success in exotic locations like Sydney, Miami, Stockholm, and Hong Kong. Constantly innovating, Neil Strauss and Stylelife continue to provide the most effective strategies for overhauling your social life.